352 History of the English Landed Interest. 



mens kept only for comparison : though the pickled sirloin of old 

 Comely, a twenty-year old cow, encased in four inches of solid 

 fat,^ was a phenomenon which sharpened all his remarkable 

 powers of observation, and determined him to examine before 

 leaving into every detail of the management at Dishley. It 

 was characteristic of Young to form his opinion from the 

 merest trifles ; and just as afterwards in Catalonia he satisfied 

 himself of the Spanish shepherd's judicious management by 

 observing that his sheep followed him instead of his following 

 the sheep, so now, when he saw the bulls quietly standing in 

 the field at Dishley, to be handled or gently led home by a slip 

 of a boy with a switch, he became at once assured that they 

 were in good hands, "With the eye of the expert. Young 

 criticised the various animals as they were led past him, recog- 

 nising in the cattle the small-boned, long-horned peculiarities 

 of the Lancashire breed which Bakewell chose as the basis of 

 his herd in preference to the Lincolnshire and Holderness 

 varieties. Then came the rams and ewes, all " as fat as bears" 

 (Young notes down), " with bodies trim as barrels, backs round 

 and broad, and legs not six inches long." But he is not content 

 with ocular evidence, and handles their backs and necks, being 

 encouraged by Bakewell to look for fat even on their forelegs 

 and ribs. How their owner must have enjoyed this appreciat- 

 ive visitor, especially when, with pocket measure and book, 

 he notes the height, girth, and breadth of the sheep, and is 

 only deterred from still further research by a sharp shower of 

 snow. ^ 



Then came the cart horses, bred like Bakewell's oxen and 

 sheep, close to the ground, with thick, short bodies and legs. 

 The next spectacle for this distinguished visitor was the feed- 

 ing of the live-stock ; and here he observes that the fatting 

 oxen got corn, cake, straw, hay, and turnips, and the lean 

 beasts straw only. He particularly notes the small quantities 

 given at a time, and the clean way in which the last morsel is 

 licked up. He examines the cisterns at which the animals not 

 provided with turnips are watered daily ; and when he hears 



• Gentleman'' s Magazine, Sept., 1793. 



' Farmer''s Tour through East of England. A. Youug, vol. i. p. 110. 



